New Delhi: Parents of young children, who allegedly died due to the adverse effects of Covid vaccine, have banded together to seek justice, demanding accountability and greater transparency in public health policies.
The parents sought fast-track courts and vaccine courts to provide swift justice to those injured by vaccines and their families.
According to them, the current system of computing adverse events following immunisation is “flawed.” “We need a total revamp of this and need an active, transparent and accountable AEFI system,” said Venugopalan Govindan from Tamil Nadu, who lost his daughter after getting the shot.
AEFI is an adverse event following immunisation (AEFI) defined as any untoward medical occurrence following immunisation which does not necessarily have a causal relationship to the vaccine. The adverse event may be any unfavourable or unintended sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom or disease.
“My niece was 23-years-old and hale and hearty. It was mandated by the government and as well as by the corporates to get vaccinated. On July 4 she took Covishield. At night she complained of severe headache and mild fever. Next morning she was unresponsive. She was taken to the hospital where she was declared brought dead,” said the aunt of Anjali Pandey who allegedly died due to the vaccine.
Several parents and relatives of the deceased gathered in the national capital shedding light on the “lapses.”
The matter gains significance as the government has sought dismissal of a petition filed by parents of two young women who allegedly died due to the adverse effects of Covishield vaccine. The Supreme Court listed the matter for further hearing on November 26.
Earlier, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in response to the parents’ petition, the government had said although it urged everyone to take the Covid-19 vaccine jab, it never forced anyone to get “vaccinated against their wishes.”
